Israeli tourism market recovers to second place after Britain
With an increase of more than 5% from the same time in 2023, the number of tourists visiting Cyprus went beyond two million in the first seven months of 2024. The tourist industry in Cyprus is a vital part of the country's economy, and its growth shows how strong and resilient it is.
A total of 551,229 tourists arrived in July 2024, up 5.3% from 523,718 the previous year, as reported by the Statistical Office. A total of 2,203,704 people visited between January and July, a 3.1% increase over 2,137,408 people in the same time previous year.
Despite continuing regional problems, the Israeli market has fully recovered and is once again the second-largest source of tourists to Cyprus. This is a significant development. Arrivals from Israel increased by 37.5% from 51,814 in June to 71,238 in July, which is also 10% higher than July 2023.
Poland, France, and Germany were other important markets that exhibited steady expansion, but Greece, Sweden, and Austria had slight decreases in visitor numbers.
Top tourism markets
With 755,562 visitors from the UK between January and July, an increase of 4% over 726,544 visitors in the same period previous year, the UK remains Cyprus' top source of tourists. The second-largest market was Israel, with 230,921 tourists in 2024, a 2% decrease from 235,624 the previous year.
With 182,380 arrivals, a considerable 21.5% rise from 150,091 previous year, Poland has been a major market in the past few years, placing third. Having 121,912 visitors, an increase of 12.1% from the prior year, Germany also continued its rising trend.
The top five were rounded out by Greece, which had a little decline of 4.8% from 113,827 visitors in 2023 to 108,357 this year.
Who else made a difference
Given 81,680 visitors, a decline of 2.9% from 84,052 the previous year, Sweden took 6th place. The number of visitors visiting from France increased significantly, reaching 53,934 in the first seven months, a 29% rise from 41,795 in 2023. Romania came in second, with 47,540 arrivals, an increase of 3.32% over the year before.
But there was a 3.8% decrease in Austrian tourists, from 40,446 to 38,910. Coming in tenth place was Norway with 38,736 arrivals, up 7.1% from 36,152 in 2023. Switzerland recorded 37,712 tourists, down 0.4% from 37,867 the previous year, putting them just outside the top 10.
Declines in Russia, USA, and India
Russia, formerly a big market, had a decline in tourism as well, in the first seven months of 2024, there were only 25,170 tourists, a 29.9% decrease from 35,847 in 2023. Arrivals from the United States decreased 6.2% to 28,376 from 30,244 during the corresponding time previous year.
Since Indian tourists are sometimes included into larger Asian categories, there is a lack of data on their arrivals. There was a decline of 11.3% from 12,894 visitors from other Asian nations in the first seven months of this year to 11,583.
As tourism industry in Cyprus adapts to new conditions, these numbers show where there are opportunities and where there are concerns related to the changing global tourism trends.